Good to hear Shippey again - even while scraping away at an ice-cream pot, he's always good value. It's interesting to hear his views about the value of events such as these; and that whether he'll attend another of this type 'depends on where it's held' or words to that effect. Personally, I think anyone organising such an event would be better off looking into venues in Oxford or, if that's too expensive, around the 'real' Shire - ie Birmingham! Wales - West Wales, at that - has little or no connection with the Shire, and is also a bit remote for most folk in the UK. Handy if that's where one happens to live mind you; but that doesn't strike me as being a good reason for holding an event there.

The day time events for this Oxonmoot include some stalwarts (the Quiz, slideshow, Merry & Pippin's Dance Workshop, beer, the ITF meeting) but also talks that in places are in 3 streams. Speakers include Dimitra Fimi, Charles Bressler, and Angie Gardner. Plus we have the film "Born of Hope" being shown with a Q&A session after. Note bookings close 3rd Sept! And gremlins mean that online bookings are down so email or post your form (PDF available on website)

I notice that the fan film "Born of Hope" is now going to be screened at Oxonmoot, but I found this on their website. I wonder what happened.

Dear Festival in the Shire and Festival Art and Books Fan, Firstly, Happy and prosperous New Year! We’ve been really busy and there’s not been much new news worthy of sending an email earlier. Per on posts on the Facebook, Festival in the Shire- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Festiva ... pired/149452046749?ref=ts The next Festival is on hold until 2012 due to the poor economic climate. Sadly we had to discontinue the Festival magazine for lack of interest. Despite excellent survey results of the first festival, most of our fans are too distracted with economic worry to be able to think about attending another Festival. We have decided to wait a year. Hopefully things will improve for all of us in 2011. Our book/ art business has been really slow which is bad as this is one of the main fund raisers for another Festival. We suffered a huge financial loss putting on the first festival and can only go forward if sales of art and books pick up soon (or unless someone will donate or invest in the next Festival?) It was our business in Tolkien art and book market that first inspired the idea of holding a big Tolkien fan event. Although we were licensed to do the event, we weren’t allow to tell anyone which might have help raise investors. The main funding for the next festival can only come from sales of art/books without investors and patrons. Why not visit www.festivalartandbooks.com <http://www.festivalartandbooks.com/> make a purchase and help support the Festival effort? More importantly, help support our Tolkien inspired fantasy artist! Unless a current mega star artist working on a movie, most of our artists are struggling financially in these times. (The expression- starving artist is not new!) Nearly all have to work real jobs and to continue producing fantasy art need to sell prints and originals to justify the time spent. Without patrons, art production stops! Its that simple! If you’d like to see more Tolkien or fantasy art, help keep our artist employed and support the future Festival at the same time. If you can afford an original, great, otherwise why not buy a print? We recently picked up a new artist Michael Fishel. Rare Tolkien books remain one of the safest and consistent investments. While values rise sporadically, rarely if ever have the fallen. With the new film coming out, prices are bound to rise. Consider expanding you collection of art and books. We will keep you posted of any new news. Our current inventory is always changing. Please let me know if you have any questions or need additional photos. Best wishes, Mark Faith Managing Director Festival in the Shire Festival Art and Books